The Court of Appeal, Abuja, on Friday, upheld the nomination of Shehu Umar as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Bauchi South senatorial district in the February 25 election.

A three-member panel of judges, in two separate judgments, set aside the November 21, 2022 judgment by Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Cour (FHC), Abuja, voiding Mr Umar’s nomination.

Justice Ridwan Abdullahi, who delivered the lead judgments, held that the trial court erred when it nullified the victory at the party’s primary held on May 29, 2022.

The first appeal, marked: CA/ABJ/CV/1335/2022, was between Hon Shehu Umar Vs. Hon Ibrahim Zailani and two others, while the second appealed marked: CA/ABJ/CV/1341/2022 was between APC and Ibrahim Zailani and two others.

Justice Abdullahi upheld the arguments by Mr Umar’s lawyer, Jibrin Jibrin, that the trial judge’s decision was not supported by the evidence led by Ibrahim Zailani, who was the plaintiff in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/891/2022.

The judge said the two appeals filed by Mr Umar and the APC succeeded on merit.

He, therefore, made an order setting aside the judgment delivered by Justice Nwite and restored Mr Umar as the authentic candidate of the APC for Bauchi South senatorial district.

Mr Umar, who was in court, hailed the decision in an interview with journalists.

He urged all the party members to support his candidacy in line with the decision of the superior court.

Mr Umar, who described the court’s decision as “sound judgements, which not only represents the proper position of the law, but also provided a thoughtful insight on several material issues,” commended the Appeal Court. 

(NAN)